Coal Export

I am Darrel Whipple, Rainier, Oregon 97048. I have lived here with my family for forty-three years. You all know me from my school teacher career or my volunteer activities. I am a founder and board member of Friends of Fox Creek in Rainier. I served on the county’s Reduce Illegal Dumping Task Force; I continue to serve as vice-chair of the Lower Columbia River Watershed Council and vice-chair of the Columbia County Cultural Coalition Board. But this year is the first time I have actively tried to influence the outcome of the Port District elections, or of a county administrative procedure – this rezoning of farmland to industrial at Port Westward.

I am Charlotte Persons, a resident of this area for over 20 years, and president of Willapa Hills Audubon Society. Willapa Hills Audubon Society is concerned about the health of the estuary habitat of the Columbia River—for wildlife AND humans:

We ask that that the EIS carefully consider three aspects of protecting the habitat that we live in:

(1) The health of residents, especially in areas close to the proposed site. While winds will blow coal dust from the coal terminal and the trains that supply it throughout our area, people living and working in the Highlands and Mint Farm areas will be most critically affected. Residents of existing coal terminals in our region, in British Columbia and Alaska, regularly complain of the black dust that coats their houses and boats. Exposure to coal dust has been linked to increases in chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and asthma. The proposed Millennium terminal is only slightly more than a mile from homes and schools in Longview. We ask that the EIS carefully examine these potential health impacts.